Four members quit Schiphol advisory council amid internal conflict over representation
Tensions inside the Maatschappelijke Raad Schiphol (MRS), the advisory body representing residents around Schiphol Airport, escalated Friday as Amsterdam representatives and two other members withdrew from active duties, citing deep internal divisions and outside influence concerns, NH reports.
The developments include two linked incidents: four MRS members stepped down from their roles in protest, and Amsterdam-area representatives separately announced they would stop attending meetings altogether. The council, created in 2023 to advise the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, remains formally intact, but its credibility is under renewed strain.
The MRS, chaired by Khadija Arib, provides both solicited and unsolicited advice to the minister and represents residents living under Schiphol’s flight paths and near its runways.
The resigning members said the structure of the council prevents it from fairly representing all residents. “The goal of the MRS is to improve livability and the health situation for all local residents. With the current system of representation by runway, it is not possible to do this equally for all residents,” one departing member told NH.
Amsterdam representatives said they "will no longer attend meetings and consultations,” MRS member Jeroen Wester told NH. “We hope this signal will finally lead to change within the MRS. Under the current circumstances we can no longer operate. We are done with it. For a very long time we produced well-founded advice, real works of art. But that is no longer possible.”
Wester said the council’s structure encourages competing local interests rather than collective decision-making. “Some representatives are not there for the whole, but only to satisfy their own constituency,” he said.
He added that discussions on key issues were shut down, including debate over the proposed preferential runway use in the upcoming LVB, which will set new rules for Schiphol operations, including planned reductions in flights, new noise limits, and long-term enforcement measures.
Preferential runway use prioritizes runways where fewer people live near flight paths, an arrangement based on 2015 agreements. Critics say it spreads noise more widely. Wester said, “It leads to spreading flight traffic, nuisance, and disturbance, meaning many more people are affected.”
He also argued that the approach conflicts with legal principles. “We asked within the MRS whether that distribution is actually lawful,” he said. “It goes against the principle of equality under the law, which says you cannot favor one group over another.”
Wester said internal disagreement prevented discussion of the issue. “Because residents’ groups are divided, the aviation sector can continue to distribute nuisance,” he told NH. He added: “This dossier is on the level of Tata Steel and Groningen.”
The conflict echoes earlier failures in regional aviation consultation. The MRS replaced the Omgevingsraad Schiphol in 2023, which collapsed in 2018 amid disputes between groups favoring conditional airport growth and those pushing for reductions without industry involvement.
Another departing member told the newspaper that the system itself needs restructuring. “The goal of the MRS is to improve livability and the health situation for all local residents. With the current representation per runway, it is not possible to do that equally for all residents in equal measure.” The member also called for a different model, suggesting a health-focused advisory body instead of geographically divided representation.
Concerns were also raised about governance and outside influence. Members said the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management and Schiphol Airport were involved in internal evaluation processes. They also cited the unexpected attendance of Schiphol CEO Pieter van Oord at a meeting without prior consultation with resident representatives.
According to departing members, internal review work was dismissed. “We have raised all those points, but none of it ended up in the report. The board and other representatives shut that down,” said Wouter Looman.
Looman also criticized how the council operates. “Without any discussion, such things happen. The MRS leadership is supportive. But they treat us, elected representatives, as if we are their employees. That is not how it works. Who is steering the MRS? It is nominally independent, but there are signs that it is not.”
Looman stated that residents’ groups should not be reduced to internal rivalry. “By influencing the operation of the MRS in this way, we serve the interests of all residents better than by staying. But it is very serious that the consultation is again falling apart due to internal turmoil. While it should be about serious nuisance, health damage, and environmental protection, resident groups are fighting each other again.”
The MRS responded in a brief statement that it regrets the resignations and disputes the criticism. It said the departing members’ preferred course does not align with its statutory role as an advisory body.
According to the council, the members have relinquished their positions, and the vacant seats will be filled as soon as possible.
